Now, Uber to drive 30,000 jobs in Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: Ride hiring service Uber has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Tamil Nadu government to create 30,000 job opportunities.Through the MoU, Uber plans to work closely with the state government on framing regulations in the taxi hailing space.

Signing the deal at the Global Investors Meet in Chennai on Thursday, Uber said the MoU will give 30,000 entrepreneurship opportunities to the state over five years. “This is our commitment to contribute to the economic development of the state.

We will invest a portion of the billion dollars that we have allocated towards India, in Tamil Nadu,“ said Uber India president Amit Jain. He refrained from dis closing the exact amount.

Uber has been in the news recently for several reasons.Soon after Uber made an announcement to invest $1 billion towards operations in India, news of the taxi aggregator raising $100 million from the Tata group's private equity arm Tata Opportunity Fund did the rounds.

Jain said several such facilities are in the pipeline.Uber recently partnered with Airtel to provide free 4G Wifi in their cars in Mumbai and Delhi as pilot projects. “Many more such attractive offers will be doled out in the upcoming months,“ he said.

On guidelines, Jain said they are working closely with the Union government to finalise them.

Given the nascent stage of the industry , Uber is working with several states on formu lating and finalising their respective state laws which will be built on the foundation of the central guideline, he said.Jain was hopeful that clarity on legislation will pave the way to better business opportunities and hopefully , removal of the ban in Delhi.

Uber and other app-based cab services were banned by the Delhi high court in December 2014, after a Uber driver was accused of rape.

On opportunities in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, Jain said, “More than half of the cities we operate in are tier-2 and tier-3. A thriving market is developing in these cities as we enter them. Our mission is to create urban mobility as ubiquitous as electricity or water.“ Uber claims to be the leader in the taxi hiring space in terms of technology platforms and quality of service, with a 35% market share.